A/N: The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm. - is a quote from LOTR-Two Towers (Peregrine Took). Re. Playstation - I know the max PSN ID is 16 characters and ThorsMightyHammer is more but I give zero fucks on this one… I do what I want! (spoken in Cartman’s voice). Also… Mild Endgame Spoilers contained within.
Warnings: Angst and dark thoughts, loneliness, people are hurting.
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Hurricane Thor
“What are you doing here?” Thor grumbled from the sofa. He’d heard the assassin pick the lock and enter but until she was in striking distance he chose to ignore her in favour of online gaming.
“Heard about a perpetual storm wreaking havoc along the coast in New London. It’s got meteorologists baffled. We figured it was you.” She stepped into view, wearing casual attire; jeans and a fitted pea-coat. At least she wasn’t there to kill him. “Who moves to Connecticut anyway?”
“I’ll have you know I like it here. It’s very, ahhh, wholesome.” He was thumbing the PS4 controller like crazy.
Her reply was an eye roll.
He cursed heavily at the TV. Death by a pre-pubescent internet demon-troll wasn’t good for his mood. He hated losing.
“Why are you here, Romanoff?” He threw game controller down against the cushions and stood to his full height. “Surely you could have simply called.”
“Would have, but someone smashed his phone the last time we visited.” She held out a new communicator with a sassy flick of her wrist. “Talk to Steve, we need you back.”
“I don’t want to be back.” He grumbled, growing more ill-tempered. “We lost. Thanos won. What else is there to say?”
“Tony is out of rehabilitation.” She begged with her eyes. “At least come and see him now that he’s back in the lab and back to his philandering ways.”
“Oh that is good to hear. I always liked it when Banner would throw out his secret stash of candy.” Thor smiled weakly, pulling a beer from the fridge. “Want one?”
“Only if I’m celebrating a victory here.” She smirked. “Does that mean you’ll come?”
Thor grinned. He had missed the camaraderie between them all but they were also a constant reminder of his own failure. He’d had a chance to put a stop to Thanos and had failed spectacularly. Half of all life had been wiped out and there was nothing he could do. Even their second chance had come too late; locating his sanctuary, finding the planet defenceless, facing the mad titan himself only to find the stones gone.
“I used the stones to destroy the stones.” That purple monstrosity had said.
Thanos was so sure of his inevitability that he didn’t even put up a fight when Thor hacked off his head with Stormbreaker. There was no satisfaction in the act, only a solitary step out over the precipice to oblivion.
Thor’s grin was gone.
“No.” He rumbled so deeply it was almost a growl.
Thor chugged the bottle, feeling himself get sucked down under a tide of self-loathing. No amount of weak Midgardian ale could numb his pain.
“At least take the phone.” She softened her gaze. “We’re here if you need us.”
“Very well.” He huffed.
She was gone without another word. Closing the door behind her as she left. Thor knew she’d be back at some point, and if not her then maybe Stark. Once they found him they never stopped coming.
Thor had grown to like this town. He’d been here two months. He liked the sea and the solitude. Not many people in this town recognised him. He was free from attention, blame, and harassment. It was the closest to peaceful he could get.
Right back after the snap, he’d found a place with his people in a little fishing village in the remote north of a country called Scotland. The whole village had been wiped out on D-Day. He took the village and renamed it New Asgard. But even there, amongst his people, he found no peace, only guilt. They’d quickly found him there, The Avengers, asking him to return to the fight, so he had left New Asgard and went anywhere he thought no one would know him.
The closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm. He’d read that somewhere, wasn’t sure where exactly, but he’d decided that New London was just close enough to up state New York to put him under The Avenger’s Radar. These two months had been the longest he’d gone without them finding him. He cursed his storm inducing mood swings. Maybe he should have moved into Stark’s basement and brooded there instead.
Last night had been the first night in weeks that it hadn’t rained. He had been all set to let his mood bring more thunder but something had changed.
The girl. He thought.
She’d been a delicate looking thing, sleek and slender, with radiant skin and dark hair.
Fragile. That’s how he’d seen her the first few nights she’d passed him at his brooding spot. But there was a strength in her. She fought a great sorrow. He could tell, even without his bionic eye.
Thoughts of her drew his mind to the man she was with. The one who left her alone and out in the cold waiting for him. There was something unsavoury about that man. Thor didn’t much care for him but a woman’s choice in partner was none of his business. It must be his ring she wore on her finger.
Flopping down on the sofa again he turned his attention back to his Playstation.
“Right then, Noobmaster69, it’s time to meet your doom at the hands of ThorsMightyHammer!” It was a battle cry suitable only for a middle-aged nerd’s soundproofed basement, but he gave it with gusto regardless. Controller in hand, he set about the thrashing of one anonymous online gamer.
The gym at Ocean Beach Park was open all night. He’d been in there a few times when it was quiet. Early in the morning or late at night was better. He had basic weights there in the apartment but no treadmill, cross trainer or anything he could use to really punish himself.
No matter how much he distracted himself from it, the thought of the girl and her yapping dog wouldn’t leave his mind. There was something about her that he was drawn to, some innate quality she was possessed of that he sensed, and liked.
He told himself that he was going to the gym but instead he pounded the pathways of the park itself in a rhythmic and sweaty search for any sign of her.
She hadn’t been at the twelfth marker, nor anywhere along the promenade. He checked, running its whole length, twice. There were dog walkers still exercising their companions but none were her, and none of the dogs even looked similar to her little white and tan pup with the huge fluffy ears. He didn’t see her gentleman friend either.
Perhaps she had been scared off. Perhaps.
By the time midnight came around, he was dripping with sweat and extremely hungry. A jumbo pizza and some buffalo wings were just what he craved. Eating hastily on the walk home, he noticed the little café across from the park. The logo on the shutter triggered a memory of slender fingers grasping a paper cup with the same design. Smiling through a mouthful of pizza he carried on his journey home feeling peppy. He felt energised, contently full of greasy food and had another point of reference for his mystery woman.
